Mangetsu no Nagareboshi
by YukiSkye
Summary: The moon has disappeared! But it wasn't as though Shinichi could do anything about it, right? Well, when he's "mistaken" for one of the characters from an old myth, he finds himself competing to find it first. His rival? The tricky moon god. The stakes? His hand in marriage. There's something more to it but Shinichi could already tell this wasn't going to end well. KaiShin, AU
1. The Disappeared Moon

And now for something completely different! This time, I'm going to try my hand on a mythical ancient Japanese setting. Of course, creative liberties would be taken so **the folklore is going to be a different** but I'll try my best to keep things as period accurate and fact accurate as possible. If anyone has any comments, corrections, etc, please feel free to tell me. Thank you! I hope writing this story in a Japanese setting won't be too presumptuous or pretentious of me.

* * *

満月の流れ星

 _Mangetsu no Nagareboshi_

The Full Moon's Shooting Star

* * *

Chapter 1: 消えた月

The Disappeared Moon

~ .+*.-.+ (C *:-.*+. ~

The forests were tranquil and full of sleepy birdsong.

Around him, drenched in the colors of sunset, rose the silent sentinels that made up the forest, the wind hushing through their darkened leaves throwing the ground beneath in constantly overlapping mosaics of light and shadows. It was the time of day in which the world slowed for the encroaching night and its lullaby of darkness.

But underneath that layer of tranquility, a subtle fundamental shift in the balance of the world had already taken place beneath their feet.

Lately, there had been a startling increase in the number of youkai roaming about as of late.

Those that mainly came at night grew bolder in the daytime and nighttime was rapidly growing to become more a living nightmare than a time of peace and rest.

The reason why was obvious: the moon had vanished from the sky about a week ago.

It was impossible to tell at first when it happened since the sky had been covered in an obscuring layer of clouds, but Shinichi had felt it in a way that tugged at his gut in defiance to all logic that the moon wasn't simply hidden behind clouds but that it was _gone_ in the truest sense of the word.

Sure enough, the next night, the moon never rose.

It made him strangely upset. The moon was one of the few things that could bring him a true sense of peace and comfort when he gazed upon it, but it didn't really justify why he felt so _angry_ but also so irrationally _sad_ that it was gone.

He had tried to find out what happened to it by questioning the friendlier, or at least non-hostile, youkai he could find (because something like that couldn't have been caused by anything other than supernatural means), but even they didn't seem to know what happened to the moon either, only that there were rumors that the foxes appeared agitated just like they were eleven years ago.

That was unsurprising considering the foxes had ties to the moon fox god, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. If the moon was missing, of course they'd be upset.

In any case, there wasn't much Shinichi could do about this situation. Even with his considerable spiritual power, it was getting too dangerous for him to wander alone. It'd be best to stop somewhere for now and either wait this out or find companions to travel with.

According to his mental map, the nearest human settlement was Ekoda, which was still a three days' journey ahead. He'd visited the city a few times in the past and it was famous for its shrine dedicated Tsukuyomi.

It was good fortune that the city was so close when the moon had vanished. If there's anywhere he might be able to find out what happened it would be there, but it was too bad the path he traveled on wasn't used much so there weren't any inns on the way, forcing him to camp outside.

As the sun began to sink, throwing his surroundings into ever deeper darkness, Shinichi thought it would be good to stop where he was for the day.

Setting down his pack, he took out a couple of ofuda which he placed in five strategic points around him equidistant to each other and with a muttered spell, he erected a barrier that should keep away most youkai.

It didn't take much longer for him to get a fire started either to warm the cooling air and he ate a dinner of dried, salted fish.

When he was done, he took out a worn, raggedy book he had always kept with him these last two years of lonely travel, a gift from his adoptive father, and almost ritualistically began to read through the well-memorized words.

When it began to grow late, he put away the book and banked the fire, lying back on the softest patch of grass he could find and closed his eyes in preparation for slumber.

~ .+*.-.+ (C *:-.*+. ~

He was woken a good few hours later to the sound of a high-pitched shriek that had Shinichi jerking unceremoniously awake with a start.

In a groggy haze, he struggled to sit up and try to pinpoint the source of the scream.

Shouting coming from the distance to the left had Shinichi stumbling to his feet and making his way over, tripping over roots, rocks, and undergrowth.

With the moon no longer there with its soft light, the world was pitch black and Shinichi slipped out one of the ofuda he kept on him at all times from the folds of his kimono and channeled some of his energy into it.

In response, the ofuda in his hand let out a luminescent glow, illuminating his immediate surroundings in a circle of firefly light.

He hurried onward and it wasn't much longer before he could clearly make out the sounds of a fight, the cries of youkai and cursing from a decidedly roughened male voice. From the intermittent bursts of spiritual energy, it seemed that one of the two people who were attacked knew magic to some degree but it was weak, not enough to last for long.

Putting on a burst of speed, he took out two paper dolls and summoned his shikigami ravens from them. They sped ahead of him to help defend whoever was under attack, their loud croaks mixing in the melee of noise as they entered the fray.

When he was close enough to be able to make out the vague silhouettes of movement, Shinichi doused the light from his ofuda and hid behind a tree.

Shinichi had no idea how many enemies there were or their strength and the situation was made even worse when he couldn't rightfully see what was going on.

In this case, it'd be best to try to get them all at once. He only hoped those two trapped at the mercy of the youkai would last until he was finished setting up.

He snuck around the edges of the fight, pinning up his ofuda as he went.

It seemed the people were holding up but it wasn't going to last long if the weakening spiritual power and the ever increasingly vociferous cursing from the sole defender of the pair was anything to go by and Shinichi hurried.

He finished tacking the last ofuda just as the pained cry and a scream of distress rang out.

Shinichi burst out into the fray, the words to the spell already flowing like water past his lips.

Instantly, the entire surrounding burst into blue-white light as the purifying power of the spell cleansed out the evil, which screeched as they disintegrated.

There was still one left, however.

It was a beast-like creature with a mat of shaggy brown fur like mud and a long mane of a darker color. It turned its attention from the two figures on the ground in front of it and glared at him through yellow eyes, a row of sharp teeth bared as it growled low in its throat, the sound like a bundle of tumbling boulders. It made its way closer, wicked sharp black claws gouging out the earth.

The spell had weakened it, however, and Shinichi wasn't entirely helpless.

His ravens immediately set upon its eyes and the beast roared, flinging its head about to try to rid itself of the pests, the ground shaking as it stomped about.

Shinichi used the distraction to hold up his left wrist where a dark beaded bracelet sat and with his other hand, he drew out a bow of white energy from it. He pulled back the string, an arrow forming between his fingers as he did so, and released it.

The ravens darted away as the arrow hit its mark between the eyes and the beast gave a final roar before slumping to the ground with a thud.

The bow dissipated as he dispersed his energy and the light of the spell began to fade too as Shinichi turned to the pair who had been attacked and he quickly made his way over.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he came near.

"Y-yeah," a young woman in a red kimono with long, light brown hair replied shakily. "But my dad…"

"Here, let me see."

The young woman moved aside for him and Shinichi lit up another ofuda as he crouched beside the supine body of a fairly tall middle-aged man in a gray kimono with dark hair and a short mustache.

He checked his pulse and found it still beating a steady beat.

Relieved that the man was alive, he checked for other signs of injury but finding none save for the more minor cuts and bruises peeking through torn cloth, he determined that he was simply unconscious and told the woman so.

She slumped in relief and thanked him.

"It's no problem," Shinichi assured.

The woman shook her head. "No, really. I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't shown up. Dad has a little spiritual talent but it's not enough to drive away the bigger youkai…"

Her gaze drifted worriedly over to the still form of her father before she directed a smile at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Mouri Ran. This is my father, Mouri Kogorou. It's nice to meet you," she introduced, bowing forward slightly in her seated position.

Shinichi smiled in response, returning the gesture. "I'm Kudou Shin."

"Nice to meet you, Kudou-san!"

"It's okay to just call me Shin," Shinichi told her. Being called Kudou-san made his skin prickle with the urge to shudder since it was what people called his adoptive parents. Not that he didn't love them, but to be referred to by that name as though he worked in the same eccentric circles they did made a small part of him squirm. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Then you can just call me Ran," Ran reciprocated.

"Um, not to be rude or anything but it's still a bit too dangerous for us to stay here. I have a camp set up with protection for the night so it'd be better if we moved there before anymore youkai came."

"Ah! You're right!" Ran gasped. "I'm sorry! Let me grab our things real quick and then I'll help you move dad."

Shinichi helped her find their packs by moving the ofuda over in her direction and intensifying the light to allow her to see.

When she found them lying by the roots of a tree a bit beaten but otherwise okay, she shouldered them both and hurried back over, supporting her father from his right while Shinichi supported him on the left.

His ravens kept lookout as they slowly returned to Shinichi's camp and when they finally reached it, they returned into their paper forms and fluttered back into the folds of his kimono.

Kogorou woke just as they were setting him on the ground, letting out a shout and thrashing frantically about.

"Dad! It's okay! We're safe! Shin-san found and saved us! He's letting us camp with him since he created a barrier here," Ran reassured her father, putting a firm hand on his shoulder to stop his wild movements.

Kogorou froze at his daughter's words, eyeing her suspiciously as he asked, "Shin-san? Who's that? When'd you get so friendly with a guy?"

"That's Shin-san," Ran said exasperatedly, gesturing politely towards Shinichi across from her on the other side of Kogorou. "He asked to be called that and it's the least I could do to repay him."

The man swiveled to direct him a scrutinizing look before letting out an unimpressed huff, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I could've taken care of those youkai without some meddling brat interfering," he scowled.

"Dad!" Ran chided, directing an apologetic look at Shinichi. "I'm sorry. Dad's just a bit grumpy from his injuries. He's actually a good man, _right_ , dad?" Her tone was still sweet but underneath was a wire of steel warning and Kogorou mumbled something under his breath that sounded like an agreement.

Apparently satisfied with his answer, she set about washing out Kogorou's scrapes with the water from her bamboo canteen.

"So, Shin-san, are you headed to Ekoda for the Fox Moon Festival?" Ran asked conversationally as she worked, ignoring her father's hisses and complaints to be gentler.

Shinichi blinked. Come to think of it, it _was_ around that time of year, wasn't it?

"It's one of my favorite celebrations," Ran continued. "You know the story, right? It's so romantic!"

Shinichi knew the story alright. His namesake was based on one of the characters, after all, much to his embarrassment, which was why he went by the name Shin nowadays.

The story went that a fox fell in love with the North Guiding Star, Shinichi-hime, and asked her to marry him. Shinichi-hime, worried for the humans on Earth who were forced to fear the darkness every night, becoming helpless victims of both youkai and human evilness alike, agreed but only if the fox could bring light to the night.

The fox agreed and snuck into the home of the Great Priestess, who possessed a great pearl gifted to her by Amaterasu.

In order to reach the pearl, the fox had to make it past many traps and four guardians. The first guardian asked three riddles which the fox had to answer. The second demanded the fox to ask one riddle that could befuddle him. The third challenged the fox to solve an impossible puzzle and finally the fourth required his cunning and prowess to defeat in battle.

The fox successfully stole the pearl and presented it to Shinichi-hime as a wedding present whereupon it was hung in the sky.

The Great Priestess, impressed with the fox's cleverness, allowed the pearl to stay where it was, but she continued to draw power from it, becoming her most powerful every new moon when she has absorbed all of the pearl's magic whereas the fox, now ascended to Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, the Grand Fox, was at his most powerful every full moon.

Tsukuyomi married Shinichi-hime and a festival was held every year to celebrate it, becoming a way for the people to show their gratefulness for Tsukuyomi's efforts and the presence of the moon as well.

Of course Ran, as a girl, would find it romantic. To Shinichi, it was an interesting story but not much else except maybe as a source of some grief for his name. He wondered why his birth parents named him after the Guiding Star, who was decidedly _female_ and therefore give him such a _feminine_ name.

"I know the story," Shinichi confirmed. "But I'm not going for the festival. I was hoping I'd find something about why the moon's gone."

At that, Ran seemed to wilt. "Yeah, I thought it was my imagination at first so I insisted that we go like we do every year but then the youkai kept attacking and they only grew stronger and stronger and I… I shouldn't have insisted that we go."

She wrung her hands together and Kogorou put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"It's okay, Ran. We'll get to that festival safe and sound and then we'll party and drink to our heart's content! Nyahahaha!"

Somehow, Shinichi wasn't surprised.

"But we don't even know if they'll still hold the festival," Ran argued in despair. "I mean, with the moon gone and everything... And you even got hurt! What if next time, we're not so lucky?"

"I'm fine!" Kogorou assured, puffing out his chest and thumping a fist against it. "I'm a lot tougher than those youkai! The next time we meet some, I'll beat them right up!"

That earned him a weak smile from Ran.

"If you like, we can travel together," Shinichi proposed.

He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of travelling with Kogorou but it wasn't as though he could leave these two as they were. They'd be dead by tomorrow night.

Ran's expression brightened even as Kogorou's soured.

"No way!"

"Can we?"

The two turned to glare at each other in a contest of will.

"Dad! We can't travel by ourselves anymore! It's too dangerous!"

"And I told you that I could handle this myself! We don't need some uppity brat to tag along with us!"

Who's an uppity brat, you uppity old man?

"Well, if you want to handle it yourself, fine! But I'm going with Shin-san!" Ran humphed, crossing her arms and turning her nose away.

Oi, oi…

Kogorou gaped and directed a heated look of pure hatred over at Shinichi as though it was somehow _his_ fault and Shinichi could only complain inwardly at the unfairness of such treatment.

"No! There's no way I'll allow that!" Kogorou exploded, springing to his feet and pointing a finger at him with a viciousness that was usually reserved for pointing at a bug one particularly hated to which Shinichi directed a flat, unimpressed look back at the man.

Ran rose with him, hands on her hips. "Then it's either we all go together or I go with Shin-san!"

In the face of his daughter's stubborn set and clipped finality in her tone, Kogorou drooped back onto the grass, turning to give him the stink eye.

"If you lay one finger on Ran, I swear I'll cut off your hand!"

"Dad!"

As if he'd try anything like that even if they _weren't_ in the middle of youkai-infested forests.

His father gave one last huff, turned his back on all of them, and resolutely lay down to go to sleep.

Ran held up a hand perpendicular to her face in apology with a repentant smile.

"Sorry," she whispered. "It was the only way to get dad to agree to travel together. I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise."

"No, it's alright," Shinichi sighed even though he could already tell it probably wasn't. Travelling with that loud, obnoxious man was going to be hard enough as it was without him tracking his every move with a very misguided assumption that he was after his daughter.

Tomorrow was going to be a joy.

* * *

 **Cultural A/N:** I decided to use "youkai" instead of "demons" because youkai covers a wide variety of supernatural beings that might not fit into the conventional western impression of what a demon is.

 **A/N:** So yay, nay? pretentious of me? Too ambitious? I just wanted to try something no one else has before (at least, in this fandom). I'm already working on Cendrellic Juliet so this story is going to update at a crawl. This is sort of a flight-of-fancy story for me. I don't even have everything planned out so it's basically a wing-it-as-I-go-and-hope-I-don't-crash-and-burn kind of thing.

Also uh... my Japanese skills are... amateurish so... I _might_ get a chapter title wrong. I know, I know! I shouldn't use it then! But I just wanted to add it there to give out the atmosphere of the story's setting so... I hope you'd all forgive me ;_;


	2. Fox

So um... surprisingly, I'm updating this before CJ. Huh...

 **Guest 1:** Haha, I'm so happy that you enjoy my stories so much!

 **Guest 2:** Thank you! More of this story just came your way!

 **Soylent:** I... don't really believe that but if you do, that's cool I guess.

* * *

Chapter 2: 狐

Fox

~ .+*.-.+ (C *:-.*+. ~

The sun had just barely managed to light the sky peeking between the branches and leaves above them when they woke up to begin moving again, though Kogorou had needed a rougher wake-up call to rouse him from his loud, snoring slumber.

After they were done eating their respective breakfasts and ensuring the fire was completely stamped out, they were off.

Ran proved to be a very companionable and friendly person. She was polite and social but tough when she needed to be. Apparently she couldn't stand youkai and ghosts but she could hold her own against human threat.

Kogorou, on the other hand, proved to be a less pleasant travel companion. He was abrasive and seemed to love trying to get under Shinichi's skin by asking him stupid personal questions, much to Ran's protest and Shinichi's annoyance. If Ran couldn't pressure him into dropping a question, Shinichi would give him a sarcastic fictional answer that sent Kogorou into a snit and forget the question in the first place.

Every time he thought Ran and him were getting too close or too friendly with each other, he'd intercept between them and interrupt their conversation, which was plain obnoxious and irritating. He really disliked his assumptions about their relationship, after all, they _just_ met.

"But your spiritual powers are really impressive," Ran was saying, ignoring her father's sulky muttering that it wasn't _that_ big a deal. "I don't think I've ever seen someone take out so many youkai in one go."

"Thanks," Shinichi said with some pride. "My father taught me some of what I know."

And by "taught" he meant giving him vague hints and the occasional demonstration when they came across youkai. Otherwise, Shinichi was pretty much left on his own to learn how to defeat them. It was an invaluable skill that had helped him and many others numerous times.

"Those ravens… Were they your shikigami?" Ran asked, interested.

"Yeah." He took out a paper doll and with a bit of his energy, a raven was perched on his arm in a flash of light.

Ran gave a short laugh of delight. "That's amazing! How many shikigami do you have?"

"I can summon and control up to ten."

"That's pretty impressive," Ran commented, admiring the glossy black feathers of the raven, who cocked its head and watched her back curiously. "Usually, people could only summon up to three. Oh, that's right. You also summoned a bow from thin air. How'd you do that?"

"With this," Shinichi lifted up his left hand and slid his sleeve out of the way to show her the black bead bracelet encircling his wrist. "It helps concentrate my energy and solidify it into the shape of a bow."

"Oh! I heard that's really difficult to do because it needs a lot of focus."

"It needs a lot of focus and precision," Shinichi added. "Too much and the energy could backlash. Too little and it'll dissipate. You seem to know a bit about it."

"Yeah, since dad's an onmyouji," Ran informed.

She meant that Kogorou wasn't just an average, inexperienced man who happened to have a little spiritual power to defend himself with? He was actually trying to make a living out of it? The most he'll be able to banish with his level of power and skill were the minor household youkai but those were pretty much harmless if slightly annoying so it was moot point anyway.

"Keh! As if there's anything impressive about using tools," Kogorou scoffed. "I could do that too!"

"Dad!"

"And yet you didn't use any when you were attacked, probably because you have too little spiritual energy anyway to use them to their full potential," Shinichi drawled.

"Shin-san!"

"Why you brat!"

It was in this way that they continued down the mountainside, the shady coolness of the shadows of the trees keeping the budding spring heat from being too overwhelming.

Ran offered him some onigiri when they broke for lunch over her father's objections but Shinichi turned them down since he had his own rations and he didn't want to take theirs.

When night began to fall again, Shinichi set up another protective barrier and they settled by a stream where they fell asleep to the burbling sound of running water with one of Shinichi's ravens as vigilant guardian.

They got up bright and early and ready the next day for their final leg of their journey to Ekoda, which they should reach by sundown.

"Hmm, it's getting a bit misty," Ran observed a few hours in, which was unnatural considering the warm, dry weather they had only several minutes ago and just how quickly the fog formed despite that.

He was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Stay close," he advised. "We might have just entered a barrier."

"A barrier? All the way out here? Why?" Ran exclaimed in astonishment.

"Humph! You're just overthinking it, brat," Kogorou snidely dismissed. "It's just a little mist. It's not unusual in mountains."

Shinichi didn't even deign to comment, busy concentrating on sensing out the presence of youkai or other hostile creatures within.

So far, nothing, but that didn't really mean anything if the barrier was anything to go by. Whoever made it was powerful if the barrier was able to transition from the natural world so smoothly and without alerting someone as sensitive to magic as Shinichi was. Keeping themselves purposefully hidden wouldn't even be much of a feat considering.

Shinichi couldn't even feel the barrier's boundaries, not even when he stretched his senses to the fullest distance of ninety meters around him. Either the barrier was very big or it was made so artfully that the edges were blurred. It was more likely the latter.

From what he could tell from the structural magic of the barrier, it was made to confuse and mislead those within it. Getting separated might be worse than simply being a hassle. It could be dangerous.

As they ventured further, the mist became thicker and thicker until it was almost impossible to see beyond an arm's length in front. All there seemed to be left of the world were blank, light gray walls from whence pieces of scenery would solidify from.

The spell that made it up was too big and too solid for Shinichi alone to dispel which meant there was nothing they could do but to press on cautiously.

He felt the uncomfortable prickling sensation of being watched but it was as dispersed as the fog that blanketed them and he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. It made his skin crawl.

"Maybe we should wait it out," Ran said nervously, edging along and gripping onto her father's arm while simultaneously trying to keep close to Shinichi and keep him within sight since Kogorou wouldn't let Ran hold his arm or hand to prevent from losing track of him nor would Kogorou consent to doing so himself.

"We could but since we've wandered into a barrier, this fog isn't going to dissipate since it's not natural. It'd be better if we tried to make it out as quickly as possible," Shinichi replied, slowly picking the way at the front.

 _Before whatever trapped us in the barrier decides to make a move,_ he decided not to add. He didn't want to spook Ran more than she already was.

Their progress had slowed to a crawl. At this rate, they wouldn't reach Ekoda on time and they'd be left in the mercy of the oncoming night when the creature would be even stronger…

There was a yelp from behind a second before a heavy weight collided with his back, sending him and who must no doubt be Kogorou tumbling down the steep incline they've been inching along.

He could hear Ran's startled cries and Kogorou's shouts a small distance away as he collided harshly with the rough packed dirt that made up the trail they've been following. The monotone world rolled by in a dizzying cycle until he didn't know which way was up, down, or sideways.

He tried to stop his momentum but then his head impacted with a rock and he saw stars, unable to concentrate on anything except the blinding pain in his skull.

It took him several moments to realize that his tumbling had stopped, that he was now resting at the foot of the incline, and that Ran's frantic calls for him echoed from somewhere above.

"I'm alright!" Shinichi called back once he managed to regain his breath and the throbbing in his head had calmed to more manageable levels though his shout shot through his skull like a bell and a fresh lance of pain made him hiss.

He gently felt for the wound and was relieved to find that nothing seemed to be bleeding. Thank goodness for small mercies.

Shinichi didn't bother to ask what happened. If he had to guess, Kogorou tripped over something and sent them both sprawling down.

"Don't move, you two! I'm coming down!"

"Alright!" Shinichi answered.

"Don't do anything stupid!" Kogorou hollered.

 _As if you're one to talk_ , Shinichi sniped unhappily in his mind.

He levered himself up a bit more into a sitting position where he felt around for something to lean on.

When his hands came in contact with some roots, he followed it to the trunk and rested his back against it with a sigh, waiting out the cyclic pain that throbbed along every accelerated beat of his heart.

He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself back down and slow his heart so that it wouldn't hurt as much.

Eventually, he was able to bring down the pain to a dull ache instead, much to his relief.

It occurred to him then that he hadn't heard from Ran or Kogorou the past few minutes, which was odd considering how strident the latter was and Ran would've wanted to keep them talking so she would be assured they're okay and so that she could find where they were.

"Ran-san?" he asked tentatively into the dense veil of nothingness.

No answer.

"Ran-san?" he tried again, a little louder this time.

Still no answer.

"Mouri-san?" he asked instead. Kogorou was much closer than Ran was so even if she couldn't hear him, he definitely would.

But when there was no furious retort from Kogorou at having Shinichi call for him, he became troubled and uneasy.

There was that feeling of being watched again.

Something was obviously wrong. Did something happen to Ran or Kogorou? No, this was more the work of the barrier. It had finally succeeded in separating them and making them more vulnerable to whatever lurked therein.

Slowly, using the tree behind him as support, he stood up.

The fog made vision as impossible as ever and he was forced to go by where he thought Kogorou might have been when he stopped his tumble, the tension making his slight headache peak a little.

Shinichi tried to get himself to relax but he remained alert.

He didn't want to call Ran or Kogorou again. If they were truly separated by another layer of barrier, doing so would only serve to announce his nervousness to the unseen adversary.

Instead, he tried to sense Kogorou's modicum of spiritual energy or even Ran's slightly less bright life force.

He could find neither, which basically confirmed he was in yet another barrier.

It was worrying. He hoped they were okay. He needed to try to get to them quickly.

He summoned a raven, which perched backwards on his shoulder to keep watch of his back and he ventured carefully forth, feeling out the uneven ground with his foot before stepping forward, his hands held in front of him to prevent himself from bumping into anything.

He had to try to find the barrier's exit or at least the edge, otherwise he'll never be able to find those two again.

The presence flared in front of him even as Shinichi stumbled back, hands instinctively going for the ofuda hidden in his kimono while his raven tensed and crouched, ready to spring at the enemy behind him.

One by one, thin balls of blue fire burst into life all around him like stars, wavering as they hovered in the air even as the silhouettes of several shapes as high as his knee approached him.

Foxfire, Shinichi recognized. It explained much and it must be an exceptionally powerful fox to be able to erect something like this to trap them.

"You have a lot of nerve to come so close to the city under the great Tsukuyomi-sama's protection, wretched follower of Orochi," a bass voice growled.

From the depths of the mist seeming to materialize out of the void itself came forth a giant fox that stood as tall as his chest with a coat of glossy black fur. Its ears stood stiffly upon its head, all six of its white-tipped tails held confidently high while sharp eyes pinning Shinichi dared him to make a move.

"Orochi?" Shinichi murmured to himself in confusion.

"Do not strive to act clueless," the fox snapped, fur bristling slightly. "I can sense it on you, that snake's loathsome claim on you. It is faint but it cannot fool me."

"Wait, I've never been in contact with Orochi before," Shinichi tried, alarmed, but he could already tell it was an exercise in futility. The fox wouldn't believe him.

It bared its teeth, ears turning sideways and tails lashing as it readied itself to attack.

Shinichi didn't want to fight and hurt it. From the sounds of it, it was only trying to protect the territory here.

It'll be difficult (a six-tailed fox was above his level) but he'll try to stun or immobilize it and flee. His ravens could keep the other foxes at bay.

Decided, he waited tensely for the fox to make its move, fingers brushing against his paper dolls in preparation to summon nine more ravens.

Shinichi dodged backwards, throwing the dolls into the air, the foxfire whizzing by him missing by only a few inches.

His ravens took to the air in a frenzy of black feathers, momentarily obscuring him as he readied his bead bracelet and took out his bow, nocking an arrow decidedly smaller than the one he had used on the youkai two nights ago in preparation.

The six-tailed fox appeared from above and Shinichi threw himself out of the way just as it vanished into the gray nothingness again.

More foxfire assaulted him and he shot a few of them to extinguish them, senses wired high for his opponent hidden in the mists.

The fox lunged again from the ground on his left side and Shinichi swiveled and fired his shot but it was met with a magical shield, forcing him to duck and try to roll away.

The fox landed a small distance away where it whipped around, its tails catching him on the ground and knocking him away.

All breath momentarily left his lungs as he skidded a bit before coming to a stop, his side aching at the hard impact and his head injury made itself known again in splitting agony as he hit it against the ground roughly.

Through the pain, blue eyes widened and Shinichi managed to grab one of his ofuda and create a shield just as the fox bore on him, mouth wide open and ready to tear his throat apart.

It collided with the shield with a thud but Shinichi already knew that against the raw might of the fox, his defenses wouldn't hold.

Not a minute later, the shield shattered with the sound of breaking porcelain and then the fox was upon him in a snarling mass of power and muscle he was helpless to resist.

"Wait!"

The fox froze, its jaw just bare centimeters away from puncturing his neck and ripping it to bloody shreds.

Shaking, Shinichi could feel its hot breath, fear making his mind and heart race dizzyingly at his almost-death.

He could see the way its dark brown almost charcoal black eyes narrowed as it obeyed the call to stop and withdrew slowly from him with a growl sitting low in its own throat.

Shinichi tried to lower his useless ofuda as well but his arm wouldn't seem to obey him even though it trembled so badly, he was surprised how it could still remain aloft.

The fox didn't take its eyes off him as it asked back respectfully though with a splinter of annoyance in its tone, "Is there something the matter?"

"Release him. There's something about him… His energy… I could be mistaken but…"

Shinichi could see how deeply the six-tailed fox would like nothing more than to finish him off but it obeyed nonetheless and grudgingly stepped away from him.

It was only then that an invisible thread seemed to have been cut and Shinichi's arm fell back onto the grass, his breathing shallow and quick and his head full of nothing but a flutter of white noise.

Close. That was too close.

The tailed fox remained in his sight to his right, however, a warning not to make any sudden or threatening moves as Shinichi shakily pushed himself to a sitting position whereupon he spotted another fox standing a few feet away.

It wasn't an ordinary fox, tailed or otherwise, however.

Shinichi could hardly believe his eyes.

It was a white fox, said to be the personal servants of Tsukuyomi and near mythical in their elusiveness and to see one right before him was surreal to the point where Shinichi briefly wondered if he was hallucinating.

The fox padded closer to him, its sleek coat of white reflecting the hovering foxfires in streaks of ethereal blue and silver, until it stood by his left side diagonal to the tense black fox whose tails arced behind it as it watched warily on, ready for any signs of threat.

Shinichi didn't dare move either lest he sent the wrong signals and provoke the foxes into really finishing him off, but he continued to stare at the beautiful fox in awe.

It was hard to read since it was a fox and not a human, but it appeared cautiously excited, its ears turning this way and that as it put its nose close to his neck and sniffed before stepping back again, harvest moon irises locking with his own gaze and keeping it there as it went.

A white glow suffused the fox's body as it continued to maintain its steady stare that felt like it pierced right into his soul.

He felt a coolness wash over him like the waters of a stream as his spiritual energy involuntarily responded gently to the fox's administrations and it had the fox abruptly ceasing its activities with a gasp.

"Sh… Shinichi-sama," it uttered in shaky disbelief. "It's Shinichi-sama!"

That caught the attention of the tailed fox, who snapped its head over to the white fox with what Shinichi could only describe as incredulity despite its vulpine features.

"Shinichi-sama? How could he be? He has the taint of Orochi!"

"I don't know, but this energy is unmistakable! It's weak though, so weak that I nearly didn't recognize it at first under Orochi's impurity. It's suppressing Shinichi-sama's full powers!"

The white fox's tail lowered, swishing to and fro anxiously as it turned back to him and crouched low, head bowed and its ears pulled back.

"Shinichi-sama, please forgive this impudent servant for treating you in such barbaric manner! If you wish, I will accept any punishment you may think fit to bestow upon me."

Shinichi's head, usually so good on the uptake, was sent for a spin as he stared.

"Shinichi-sama? Me?" Shinichi asked, well and truly bewildered.

The last thing he expected was for a white fox to show _him_ this level of respect.

The white fox peered at him questioningly at his befuddlement.

"Of course. Tsukuyomi-sama has been frantic with worry ever since you disappeared from the heavens. It is a relief to find you are safe and… relatively unharmed."

He was pretty sure he was gaping on top of staring wide-eyed in incredulity at this point. It was rude and he was sure he probably looked very unflattering, but that was the least of his worries right now because Shinichi-sama? As in the princess in the story? _Him?_

"No, no, I think you've got it wrong," Shinichi blurted. "I can't be Shinichi-sama," he denied, wincing both at the idea and the fact that he had basically destroyed the only thing between him and death.

Looks like his nonexistent self-preservation skills were still intact.

But still, it had managed to guess his real name…

The white fox seemed to freeze and Shinichi held his breath, waiting for the inevitable backlash and teeth.

The fox peered up with wide eyes instead as it asked, "What do you mean?"

Shinichi let out a breath of resignation. It wasn't as though he could lie about being Tsukuyomi's wife for long even if he went with it. Whatever happened from here on happened.

"I mean that I'm just an ordinary human. I may have stronger-than-normal spiritual powers but I'm definitely not the Guiding Star. For one, I'm male and for another, I grew up like a normal human would. If I were a deity, that couldn't have happened, could it?" Shinichi reasoned.

The fox straightened slowly with a considering look and approached him again, eyes landing on his left shoulder before darting to meet his own.

"Orochi's taint is especially strong here."

Shinichi reflexively clutched at the shoulder where the ugly evidence of some vicious attack from his childhood remained.

Though they were indistinct and full of nothing but shadowed blurs and disjointed sounds, he knew it was the source of some of his nightmares. They were more frequent when he was a child but every once in a while, he would wake up panting in cold sweat, eyes darting to track invisible foes but unable to recall anything of the dream.

So it was Orochi that left him this wound? He couldn't remember. Maybe it was so traumatizing that he unconsciously sealed away the memory. Well, he supposed anyone being attacked by Orochi would be traumatized, let alone the seven-year-old boy he was when the Kudous had found him on the verge of death.

"If you may grant me permission to see…"

Shinichi's grip tightened before loosening again.

Even if he wasn't Shinichi-hime, it was still his only hope of proving that he wasn't Orochi's follower or anything along that vein.

He hesitantly pushed aside the collar of his kimono and allowed the fox to see the discolored circle of raised flesh underneath.

He heard the fox take in a sharp breath before it was backing away.

"This… I must inform Tsukuyomi-sama of this immediately!"

"Ah, wait!"

But it was too late. The white fox was already gone.

Shinichi hastily shrugged his kimono back on properly and scrambled to his feet with despair dripping down his stomach.

The six-tailed fox turned at his movements but its stance was no longer aggressive, tails no longer arcing though they were still held high and its gaze was placid.

"I apologize for inconveniencing you," it simply said. "You may pass through, if you wish. Please excuse us."

With a bow of its head, the polite gesture of which was copied by the other surrounding foxes, they began to leave, but not before the black fox threw one last skeptical glance at him before they were truly gone, taking their fog with them and leaving a dazed Shinichi in a world that was much sharper than he remembered it to be.

He stared after the foxes for a long while before one of his ravens called at him inquiringly.

Shaking himself out of it, he withdrew all but one raven, which he sent to go look for Ran and Kogorou.

He didn't know what was going on but if what the white fox had said was anything to go by, he might just be paid a visit by the very moon god himself.

The joy just kept coming.


End file.
